


Agent Pfft Whatever

by silver_drip



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mercenaries, Poison, hydra!darcy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-10 14:04:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6960073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silver_drip/pseuds/silver_drip
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy was raised by Hydra, but ended up being an Avenger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Agent Pfft Whatever

**Author's Note:**

> My mind has been crazy full of ideas. I forgot I wrote the majority of this a week or two ago.

* * *

By the time Darcy was four she had killed five people. Two had been on accident, she had been teething and fussy. Both were highly trained nannies. One person she killed because he grabbed her arm roughly, the other two because they tried to hurt her. All with a single bite.

Her mother thought it was hilarious.

At seven she could take down most Hydra agents her mother put her against.

At nine she started seeking out fights, bored of always winning. Agents feared the sound of her tiny feet. She learned how to be quiet after that, cornering the agents. She always made herself known before starting the fight.

Her mother thought it was good practice for her and the agents.

Her twelfth birthday was the start of her espionage training. She took to it swimmingly.

Darcy used her skill set to scam money out of everyone she met. Money meant freedom. Darcy became a pro at sneaking out of compounds to buy and steal whatever she wanted.

Mother did not like that.

‘You’ll get exposed!’

‘Stores have cameras! Your face can’t be recorded!’

‘Darcy, you got hit by a car!’

Pfft, that had been the car’s fault.

Fifteen was the start of her sexual exploration. She researched every individual in depth before getting busy with them. She too thorough notes and talked to her mother about it. She was happy to give tips.

At sixteen she decided to go it on her own.

Being a mercenary paid well.

* * *

Darcy slathered on sunscreen. She was too white for this kind of sun.

Herding people off of land was easy. Big corporations paid well, especially if they expected to turn a profit.

The sunscreen made her grip on her gun slippery, but she was certain of her control over the firearm.

She was popping bubble gum and rocking her aviators.

The other mercs didn’t take her seriously. So long as they didn’t get in her way she didn’t care.

* * *

Darcy sighed dramatically as she missed the shot.

Sniping wasn’t her strong suit.

After this she wasn’t going to take anymore assassination jobs.

Besides, waiting around was boring.

Darcy huffed and pulled out her boot knife.

She was always better at using a knife anyway.

* * *

Her mother wanted to come home, even had some of her agents track her down.

Darcy killed them to prove her point.

She was doing fine.

* * *

She wasn’t doing fine.

Darcy hated the fact that she had to throw herself off a train to avoid a bunch of dickwads that were running an opposing op.

She broke her left arm and her collarbone, despite her stellar ability to roll, especially down very steep and rocky hills.

Darcy blew a raspberry before calling her mother.

* * *

Mother’s homemade soup greeted Darcy upon her arrival at the compound via helicopter.

The borscht tasted extra tart, which made it clear how angry she was.

Mother glared. Darcy ate her soup with an innocent look on her face.

“Darcy,” her mother’s green eyes were dark and penetrating.

“Mom.” Darcy drew the word out. The area under her cast was itchy.

“Hydra is trying to—”

“Not this speech again!” Darcy whined and promptly flinched. Bruised ribs were no fun.

“Darcy—”

“Yes, Madame Hydra!” Darcy said in her best imitation of a mindless agent. Viper sighed.

“And why is your hair that ugly color?”

“Brown? Because dark green kind of stands out. Duh.”

Viper pursed her lips.

“I don’t like it.”

“Oh my gobsmackers! Most moms would hate if their daughters dyed their hair green, not brown.” Darcy tried to flip her hair with little avail. “I look good as a brunette.”

“Just eat your damn soup.”

* * *

They couldn’t see her, but Darcy could see them.

“That one, that one, but not the other four.”

Viper hummed. That was as close to approval as Darcy ever got from her.

Viper pushed a button to the intercom.

“Agent Six and Three, please continue on.” The nondescript Hydra agents did as they were told.

“This is the sort of people we deal with now? I could kill them all in no time. They’re weak, mom.”

“Not everyone was brought up as you and I were.”

Darcy made a face.

“Fucking nerds.”

* * *

Darcy was fairly certain that her mother let her slip out.

Two weeks later she was in Egypt, sporting the Lara Croft look. She had a mint flavored toothpick in her mouth, purely for aesthetics.

Arms dealing wasn’t that interesting to her. She was only getting paid to guard the cargo though. But she was only getting paid a third of what her male counterparts were. Once the deal was done she was going to kill her employer.

She considered sabotaging the deal, but wasn’t going to risk her reputation to get back at some idiot.

Momma didn’t raise no fool.

* * *

She picked up on the weird vibes when they got to the meeting place.

There was no one visible, but that didn’t mean shit to Darcy.

She breathed in through her mouth, tasting the air. There was the tinge of car exhaust. At least five, not including the truck she road in.

Darcy glanced at the other mercenaries. None of them looked the least bit worried.

“Taking a leak,” Darcy grumbled to them, leisurely moving to the sparse cover she could find, not that it would help that much until she figured out where the impending attack was coming from.

She spat out her toothpick and lifted her reflective aviators. She was always a better shot when her eyes were unencumbered.

Darcy shimmied her shorts off as she squatted, not giving a fuck if she flashed anyone.

When she was certain no one could properly see her hand she created twin wounds on her calf and quickly pulled her pants back on.

“I think a fucking snake bit me,” Darcy said when she returned to the group. It was always wise to have a backup plan.

One of the mercs bent down, giving her legs more than a cursory glance.

“Ain’t my problem.” He chuckled as he stood. Darcy spit on his shoe and he just laughed harder.

The buyer showed up moments later.

All hell broke loose.

She recognized the look of SHIELD agents as they swarmed the area. The buyer was taken into custody, but her group was fighting like a team.

The merc that had laughed at her earlier fell down, convulsing. With one eye Darcy tracked his body to the one who shot him.

Black Widow, and over twenty agents.

Darcy pretended to falter, falling to the ground.

Her hand ghosted over her wound, depositing poison from her nail polish. She forced herself into a prone position, even as the merc a few feet away from her cursed up a storm.

She made her heart beat faster, spreading the poison.

As her vision faded she saw two agents flank her.

* * *

Darcy woke up in pitch black.

Metal was unyielding beneath her and freezing cold.

Light streamed in and she remained perfectly still as the shelf she was laying on was pulled out.

The mortician was dead before he hit the ground.

Sadly, this was not her first time waking up like this.

She frisked the mortician. He was SHIELD. The GPS on his phone said they were in DC.

“Lame,” Darcy whispered while undoing his shirt. He was a hefty fella and his shirt would make a nice dress, not that she minded running around naked. It just tended to draw attention.

After locking the doors and hoping there wasn’t an influx of dead people delivered Darcy plopped into a rolly-chair and accessed the lone computer in the room.

Her SHIELD access 20th birthday present worked. She’d have to remember to thank her mom for that.

She deleted as much information about herself as she could with her level of clearance.

When she stood she felt a bit dizzy. She didn’t have the same immunity to poisons as her mother did, but her resistance was still pretty high. The mix she had to use to keep herself so far under would be enough to kill a decent sized city.

There was a handy evacuation map by the door, giving her a layout of the place.

Subfloor three, because no one wanted to smell formaldehyde and be close to dead people.

Darcy didn’t mind the scent, or the dead people. She did mind that she was in the center of a SHIELD base though.

She was tempted to put a virus in their system, but mother didn’t like when she played with the organization. They had too many pieces in play to risk disrupting it.

Besides, she didn’t want to give them another reason to come after her.

Darcy groaned when she realized the scolding her mother was going to give her.

* * *

The building was filled with paper pushers.

Darcy had only let one of them see her, and that was so she could kill and steal her clothes.

The top was too tight, but made it less likely that people would look at her face.

She saw a door that led outside—and then heard a foam cup hitting the ground.

Darcy twisted around as a gun was being raised. She kicked it out of the agent’s hand, but not before he could get a shot off.

The bullet knocked her backwards.

Heavy footfalls started coming from every direction.

Thick shutters fell over all the exits.

Darcy hissed and grabbed the agent, biting into his neck.

She let the tendrils of blood leak out as she held the agent close.

Her eyes flickered all over.

“Drop him or I drop you,” the Black Widow said in an even tone.

Darcy withdrew her teeth, letting Romanov get a view of her sharp canines.

“If I die you’ll never get the antidote.” Romanov was impassive. “Get me a scalpel, medical thread and a needle, and gloves. Now.”

“Let him go.”

“Oh my god, you’re so difficult.” Darcy wanted to roll her eyes, but blood loss was getting to her. Stupid agents and their stupid guns. “Fine whatever.” Darcy shoved the sweating man away from her and gripped her bleeding shoulder.

She was tackled to the floor by three separate agents.

“Mercenary Jane Doe from my mission this morning is alive.” Darcy could see Romanoff as the agents hoisted her up. Black Widow was on the phone— on a _corded_ phone.

“Seriously?” This is why she hadn’t worked in the family business. Secret agencies were underfunded and rarely upgraded their facilities.

“Agent Pome has been poisoned.”

“Every hour that passes will hurt worse than the last. It takes seven to kill, but only four to drive someone insane!”

They were carrying her away.

Her mother really was going to be pissed.

* * *

They had her seated in a typical interrogation room. They had given her a cloth for her wound. She could smell the chemicals on it.

They wouldn’t affect her, but they didn’t know that.

Darcy staunched the bleeding and pretended to be dazed.

She was regretting not having stolen the clothes from someone with a bigger bust. Gunshot plus large breasts equaled major back and shoulder pain.

She kept her arm tucked under them for support.

Darcy was surprised when it took over an hour for her interrogation to begin.

“Medical supplies. That’s all I’m going to say till I get them.” She gave the boring looking agent her best glare. Another agent walked in, carrying a tricked out medkit. She smiled at him charmingly and glanced out the room, making eye-contact with an agent that she was fairly certain was Hydra. “Good.”

Darcy slapped on some gloves so she wouldn’t have to worry about the various poisons and antidotes in her nail polish. She ripped the sleeve of her shirt. Darcy took a breath while grabbing a scalpel. It cut through her flesh and she was digging the bullet out half a second later.

Darcy threw the spent bullet onto the table, disinfected the area, then stitched it shut. She covered the wound and did not look forward to the new scar.

“The antidote.”

“What do I get out of saving him?”

“You get to see tomorrow.”

“Pfft, whatever. I’ll be fine. I want more than that.”

The agent narrowed his eyes at her.

“We have ways of—”

“Making me talk? Bet that will take more than six hours. You’d get one dead agent and a very bitchy me. This ain’t my first rodeo, cowboy.”

“You have already killed two people, do you really want three on your conscious?”

Darcy didn’t respond right away. They were using the emotional play on her. She was too hardened for that to work. Her mother had raised her to never feel bad for killing and getting what she wanted.

She still felt it though.

“Another death won’t make whatever hole you all throw me in any worse. Fly me to where I want with the payment you all cost me in Egypt and I’ll give you the antidote.”

“How will we know that it works?”

“Trust that it will and I’ll trust that you all won’t follow me. Capiche?”

The agent left the room. Darcy took that as a good sign.

* * *

Darcy was humming off tune in the helicopter. She was completely strapped down to her seat.

She was giving them directions as they went.

Romanoff was staring her down.

“How’d you get this gig?” Darcy asked conversationally. Romanoff didn’t respond. “You wet blanket.”

An agent beside Romanoff worked not to smile.

“He knows what’s up!” Darcy grinned. “Seriously though. I wouldn’t have killed anyone if you all hadn’t rained on my parade. No one puts baby in a corner.” Darcy glanced at the night sky. “Thirty degrees to the left. Start descending.” She lurched slightly. “How does one get into your agency or whatever you all are? I do excellent work. Make me a subcontractor with consistent, interesting work. I’ll give you one of my cards. I’m sure you all take in strays.”

No one responded. Darcy didn’t expect them to.

“Land on the building with the blue roof.”

They took off most of her restraints when they landed, but she could only take half-steps and her arms were behind her.

The inside of the building was nondescript. A small panel opened on the wall. Darcy read off the code and an agent punched it in. The wall shifted, revealing a room.

Her go-bag was visible along with plenty of unmarked chemicals.

If Darcy ever went to college she’d crush chemistry class.

The bindings on her arms were unfastened. Darcy started pulling chemicals off shelves and onto the main table.

All the guns that were pointed at her way didn’t bother her.

“If I don’t type in the correct code in the next two minutes various bombs in the city will go off,” Darcy said conversationally while eyeballing a measurement.

The SHIELD agents didn’t react.

It was a bluff, but a believable one.

“Your agent will be fine in a day or so. His fingertips will be numb for a week.” She added the another ingredient. “The antidote is the precipitate. It will start breaking down almost immediately. Add this when you are in the room with him.” Romanoff nodded to a corked vial and a water bottle she’d just filled. “Don’t shake it.” 

One of the agents took the compounds.

The guns aimed at her didn’t falter.

Darcy kept her hand on an open beaker.

“Killing kids isn’t on my to do list. Leave now. Don’t make me poison you all too.” She gestured to the beaker.

The agents backed out of the room.

Darcy sighed when they were gone.

She grabbed her go bag, set a bomb to go off, and was in her escape tunnel in under a minute.

* * *

Darcy was trying the ‘good guy’ shtick.

It annoyed her mother and was a nice change of pace.

It was through that line of work that she met Pepper Potts.

“I almost killed your boyfriend,” Darcy blurted out. Pepper gave her a suspicious look. “I used to be a mercenary, but now I work on humanitarian efforts. The guy who tried to hire me, Justin Hammer, is in jail. This was before the whole Iron Man thing. Mr. Stark had picked up Hammer’s date. I would have taken the job if it hadn’t been so funny to see him rant.”

“That’s quite the career switch, Miss…”

“Lewis, Darcy Lewis.” There was an awkward pause. “Yeah, I grew up in the underworld, so it all kind of just happened. Took me years to get out of it. I’m just trying to right a little bit of the wrong I’ve done.” It was partially true. Untangling her life from Hydra was never going to fully happen. She did enjoy playing Batman and taking down baddies. If they ended up being Hydra competition it was purely coincidental.

Darcy took a sip of her champagne.

Pepper was just staring at her.

Darcy scurried off.

* * *

Darcy blew a raspberry and equipped herself with various weapons.  

Aliens.

She wasn’t all that surprised. Mother made it clear that aliens were real.

She was royally pissed.

They just _had_ to attack her penthouse.

Not cool, bro.

Her window was already blown out. She grabbed a grappling gun.

The chaos was familiar and weirdly comforting.

She took aim with the grappling gun.

The kick was killer, but her aim was on point.

Darcy was yanked out of the window by the giant flying lizard worm.

The momentum swung her under the alien and up. She flipped in the air and fired another grappling hook into the alien’s back. The rope stayed connected and the gun made a buzzing noise as it holstered her up.

The scaly hide was thick, but she had filled her hollowed canines with acid the morning of.

She tended to switch out her poisons at random.

Darcy ran to the head of the monster and bit into it.

The sizzling scent of its hide made her cringe.

She started hacking away at the scales, finding vulnerable flesh. 

The alien didn’t react.

Once she was deep enough she stuck a grenade in the hole.

She used the four second delay to get distance some between her and the explosion.

There was a low thump and the alien lurched, but didn’t stop.

Darcy gauged the wind and threw a grenade into the hole. Flesh exploded out and Darcy jumped into the slick flesh.

She regretted not wearing ear protection as she started blasting at the flesh.

After a handful of shots the alien stopped flying.

Darcy rode the puppy down, feeling like a space cowboy.

At the last second she jumped out and used her last grappling shot.

The hovercraft lurched her up and forward. She winced as her shoulders flared painfully.

She took the newest alien down with her knife.

Darcy immediately fell in love with the hovercraft.

She picked up how to drive it easily and began shooting aliens out of the air.

She spotted Black Widow doing the same.

Darcy was in good company.

They made eye contact and Darcy got a nod of approval. It made Darcy snort. She didn’t need anyone’s approval.

She was only fighting because the asshat aliens that wrecked her home. That’s where she kept all her stuff!

The hole in the sky started getting smaller and her hovercraft faltered. She steered downwards and rolled out of it before it hit the ground.

“Fuck.” She groaned while getting to her feet. Thank god she was wearing her leather coat or road rash would have been a serious concern.

Darcy spotted Iron Man falling out of the sky. She pulled out her phone and snapped a quick picture.

She sent it to her mother with a poop emoji.

“Hey,” a male voice said from behind her. Darcy twisted around, not having heard anyone sneaking up on her. It was the agent from the helicopter.

He looked worn out, but grinning.

“Sup.” Darcy wiped alien goop off her skin. It was already starting to crust on. “You come here often?”

“Do you?” he asked while itching his thigh with his bow. He pressed his hand to his ear. “Roger that.” His eyes flickered back to her. “We’re having a celebratory meal if you want to join.”

“Will you all try to arrest me, ‘cause I’m pretty sure I saved more lives than I’ve killed.”

“Depends, are you going to kill anymore?”

“Probably not.” Darcy shrugged. “I have no plans to.” The agent chuckled. “I’m Darcy Lewis, by the way.”

“Clint Barton, also known as Hawkeye.”

“Sharp shooter. Cool beans.” Darcy pulled out her sunglasses. The left lens had a crack that ran down the middle. She slipped them on. They had held up surprisingly well. “Lead the way.”

* * *

“She killed a lot of Chituari,” Clint said as they walked into the restaurant.

“Darcy Lewis, former mercenary and currently humanitarian.” She waved at them before shoving her sunglasses onto the top of her head.

“It’s been a while. Nice to put a name to the face.” Natasha nodded, her eyes calculating.

“I’m a humanitarian now,” she said again. “Sorry about those three SHIELD agents and the bombs.” Natasha hummed in acknowledgment. Darcy figured that was all she was going to get and went to order some food.

She could feel eyes on her, but wasn’t bothered. She didn’t sense any hostility and they all looked bone deep tired.

Darcy felt a thrill as they told her that the meal was free.

A chair was shoved up to the crowded table.

Some of the group regarded her with suspicion, but most just gave her a glance.

Darcy chomped into her food.

Staring at Captain America was a riot. Her mother had cursed him more times than Darcy could count. She had to snap a picture of him, but now didn’t feel like the appropriate time.

“Fuck it,” she said with food still in her mouth. “Captain Rogers, can I get a selfie with you? It will totally drive my mom bonkers.”

“Selfie?” Rogers asked warily. Tony snickered.

“A picture you take of yourself.” Darcy scooted closer to him. “I’m gonna give you a smooch on the cheek. Prepare yourself.” Roger’s face started flushing. Darcy held up her phone and laid one on him. The recorded sound of a shutter clicked. “Perfect,” Darcy said while looking at the picture. She sent it to her mother and turned her phone on silent.

Rogers had a look of confusion on his face as Darcy pulled away.

She chuckled at his expression.

* * *

Darcy was invited to the debriefing. She only went to get the skinny on what all had happened.

“What is _she_ doing here?” Director Fury growled out.

She was picking at the gunk on her leather coat, paying him no mind. She’d send a picture of Fury to her mother, if she could get one.

Darcy already had about five missed calls and a handful of texts, many of them threats to drag her back home by her ear.

Darcy sent a duckface selfie with the logo of SHIELD clearly visible in the background.

“She helped take down the Chituari,” Clint explained, looking unperturbed by his angry boss.

“I’m a good guy now,” she said as her phone lit up with a new text. It auto-deleted after she read it.

“You faked your death, killed two of my agents, poisoned a third, and then threatened to bomb children.”

“I was a teenager,” Darcy lied.

“That’s no excuse—”

“No fair! The Black Widow has killed more people than me!” Darcy pouted, putting on her best sad eyes.

“She’s a SHIELD agent.”

“Then make me an agent.” Darcy said it like it was the simplest thing in the world. “Can we just do the briefing thingy? I need to get home and take a shower.”

“I should have you arrested.”

“Clint said you wouldn’t arrest me.”

Fury tilted his head and looked at Clint like he was crazy.

Clint shrugged.

“Always taking in damn strays.”

* * *

Background checks were stupid.

Darcy had already laid out her whole history, sans anything having to do with Hydra.

“You were in Argentina in March of 2011?” the grumpy agent asked, pen poised.

“Yeah, my gun went _pew_ and shot this red colored wolf for my buyer. Got it right in the flank— had to track it for over an hour. Had to hike through the rainforest with it on my back for what felt like forever. Got it to the taxidermy and got a pretty penny for it.”

The agent nodded while writing.

“I already asked to be a subcontractor for SHIELD, like a billion years ago.” Darcy chewed on her gum obnoxiously. “I’ve been nothing but good for the last two years. I even pay _taxes_. Also I got my driver’s license, even though I was a better driver than most at the age of seven.”

“Why do you want to join SHIELD?”

Darcy channeled her inner Miss America.

“World Peace,” she said with wide eyes.

The agent was not impressed.

“I’ve done a lot of bad. I want to do at least a little good.” She stood. “I’m fine going it alone.”

Darcy strode out of the room. One of the rules of negotiations was always being willing to walk away.

Clint was waiting right outside the room.

“How’d it go?” Darcy shrugged in response. “There’s another group you can join, better pay and health plan. We call ourselves the Avengers.”

“You almost sound like you trust me. Why?”

“I have a good feeling about you.”

Darcy stared at him for a moment before responding.

“I find that unsettling.”

Clint laughed.

* * *

Clint ended up somehow crashing on her couch in exchange for repairing her penthouse.

There wasn’t a lot to do, but Darcy did have the habit of creating holes in the walls with her throwing knives.

He was good company and let her use his Netflix account.

“Wanna go to the shooting range with me?” Clint asked, sprawled out on the couch with a bag of chips resting on his chest.

“Sure.” Darcy hustled on over to her personal armory. Half her shit wasn’t even legal. It had taken her years to amass. She would shank a bitch if they tried to even touch her toys.

She bagged a few of her lesser used ones before changing out of her PJs and into one of her more deadly looking outfits. Black jeans, combat boots, blood-red shirt, and leather coat. The look was completed with her cracked sunglasses.

The only indication that Clint had moved an inch was the surplus of crumbs on his chest.

“You disgust me.” She was tempted to flip the couch over, but knew he’d just whine for the next hour.

Clint rolled off the couch and they were heading to the range in no time.

* * *

It was a month and a half before anything changed.

She was out shopping when she sensed someone following her. It was a finely honed instinct that had saved her life more than once.

She acted casual.

A few minutes in she pickpocketed a phone and connected it to her own, streaming its camera feed to her own. She put the hijacked phone on a stand as she passed it. She watched the feed and rolled her eyes when she spotted her mother.

Darcy rolled her eyes and turned a corner and leaned against the wall.

Thirty seconds later she was face to face with her mother.

“Not cool,” Darcy said while standing up straight.

Viper’s lips were pinched together. Bad sign.

“Darcy Ouroboros Sarkissian!” Darcy flinched.

Fuck.

“Viper Ophelia Sarkissian,” Darcy said back with just as much venom in her voice. “If I’m seen with you, your face is going to be all over SHIELD’s servers.”

“Which is exactly why you should answer my phone calls.”

“And you couldn’t have sent—”

“You would just kill whoever I sent,” Viper stated firmly. She wasn’t wrong.

Viper dug through her oversized, gaudy purse and pulled out a notebook. Darcy snatched it up, always happy to see what new poisons her mother created.

“Bribery will get you everywhere.”

Darcy pulled her mother into one of the countless coffee shops that littered New York. She scoped it out before and knew it had no cameras.

When they sat down with their drinks Viper gave Darcy a penetrating look.

Darcy hissed, a habit she thought she’d grown out of.

“They’re not going to find out about who I am or the super-secret, definitely doesn’t exist group. You’re the one putting us at risk right now.”  

“SHIELD has no idea who I am. I have spent my life staying under the radar, yet you choose to jeopardize everything by frolicking about with these ‘Avengers’.” She spat out the last word. “Please come home. I want you to lead the European division.”

“I don’t like leading.” Darcy tried to keep the petulant tone out of her voice.

“Then come do solo-missions. You love those.”  Her mother’s green eyelashes fluttered. Her voice was even, but Darcy could sense her underlying concern. Whether that concern was for Darcy or Hydra was a tossup. Probably both.

“I need you to trust me, mom. I _want_ to be an Avenger. You know I’d never do anything to out us.”

“Why do you want to join them?”

“You and the organization are all about the big picture, but you know I’m not. You want a world of order without needless violence. I don’t think that is going to happen in my lifetime—”

“We have plenty of plans—”

“I don’t want to know. The Avengers do a lot of good on a smaller scale. I want to be part of that. I want to make the world a better place my own way.”

Her mother was pursing her lips again.

“I’m disappointed, but I understand. You are to check in with me every other week.” Viper stood up fluidly.

There was no kiss or goodbye exchanged. Viper just left.

* * *

“Whatcha doing?” Clint asked. Darcy’s hair was separated and covered in tinfoil.

“Dying my hair.”

“You don’t like brown?”

“It’s natural color is black. I’m too pale to rock black hair.” Darcy didn’t mention that her pubic hair was a startling green color. It was classy, in her opinion. “I know you dye Natasha’s hair, so don’t even pretend to not know what I’m doing.”

Clint let out a mopey noise.

“How’d you find out about that?” He was looking at her with wide, pained eyes.

“Red dye stain on your wrist a few weeks back. I thought you were supposed to be a spy or something.”

Clint stuck out his tongue at her and Darcy threw a tinfoil ball at him. He caught it and tossed it into the bin.

Clint’s cell went off and he flipped it open (because he was a caveman and had a flip-phone). He perked up.

“Want to go on a recon mission with me?”

“When?” Darcy asked, concentration mostly on her hair.

“Tonight, Brooklyn, 11pm.”

“It’s a date.” Darcy gave him an over-exaggerated wink and Clint snorted.

* * *

Avenging was loads of fun.

Kicking ass and taking names was one of Darcy’s favorite pass times.

Her downtime was fun too. She’d been given an apartment in Avengers Tower, even though Tony distrusted her more than the Black Widow did.

She kept her penthouse which was only a ten minutes’ walk away. She liked having her own place.

Clint became her friend, her _first_ friend. It was nice.

They bro-ed out regularly.

Natasha somehow slipped into their routine of binge watching shows with them.

She never dropped her guard around Darcy and she had the feeling Natasha was protecting Clint.

Steve was her next friend. There was something pathetic about the way he looked. It was well hidden, his desperate need for companionship.

He was more of a friend of convenience, to be fair. Darcy played nice and Steve cooked her food. If she was an asshole she’d date him just for his food and body.

Tony sometimes eyed her while scowling. The only tech he offered her was a phone (that she didn’t use) and light body armor (that she loved).

Bruce kept to himself. When she saw him outside of the field it was only his back. She didn’t take it personally. He avoided everyone.

Hulk liked her well enough.

Thor was back on Mars or wherever he was from.

Tony’s AI, Jarvis watched her like a hawk. Darcy only turned her phone on when she was far away from Jarvis.

She missed teasing her mother, but safety first and all that.

They worked well together.

* * *

Clint and her were on a mission in DC, working as bodyguards for the one and only Alexander Pierce.

In other words, she was guarding her own father.

They didn’t make eye contact and Darcy partook in champagne. It’s not that she didn’t have a bad relationship Pierce, the chump still sent her a few thousand on her birthday, but he was so damn boring.

When she was younger and he was around she acted like the perfect Hydra agent and he gave her all sorts of goodies.

Now that he had a new kid Darcy didn’t see him as often. She didn’t really mind though. She just laughed at how wimpy his new daughter was shaping up to be.

The mission ended as silently as it began. She was back in New York in no time.

* * *

Natasha and Steve were off in DC when a postcard with her mother’s distinct handwriting came in.

Darcy found herself in a pet shop, pulling a cell phone from the ceiling, and doing a numerical code to get the proper number.

Her mother picked up right away.

“I need you in DC.”

“This has to do with Cap and Widow?”

“The Winter Soldier needs backup.”

The song Hot for Teacher played in the back of Darcy’s head. The Winter Soldier had been one of her personal tutor. Sixteen year old Darcy had practically salivated at the look of him. She’d wanted to jump his bones, and her mother would let her with the same lackluster gusto she had when they went shopping for Darcy’s first vibrator.

Darcy was fine with a brainwashed super soldier, sex slave crossed one of her moral lines though.

“I’m on my way.”

* * *

Darcy watched her friends through binoculars.

Pierce was still running the show, but had been made the Winter Soldier’s handler.

Rumlow was a grumbling mess and sporting a black eye. She was tempted to shoot him for his incompetence. If anyone had bothered to ask her she would have come up with a better plan to capture Captain Fucking America than trying to beat him up in an elevator.

But no, she wasn’t brought in until things started going south.

Hydra thought Cap and Widow were dead after the bombing in Jersey, but Darcy hadn’t believed that for a minute. It was only because of her that they’d tracked the pair down and to Sam Wilson’s house.

“Let’s just take them down,” Rumlow grunted out. Darcy turned her head towards him, giving him the same look her mother used when she was pissed off. Rumlow took a step back and stared at the house again.

Darcy was in a bit of a tough spot. On one hand she didn’t want her new sort of friends to die, well, she didn’t want Clint to die more specifically. She didn’t care that much about the others. On the other hand she really wanted this whole thing to be over with. A new world order could finally mean peace, once they swept out the bloody trash and body parts.

She bit her lip. Darcy really did care for Clint, but she had to focus on more than just what she wanted.

The STRIKE team was in position. The Winter Soldier was poised for action. They were all just waiting for her word.

What was and what could be was in the palm of her hand.

A friendship versus her mother’s lifelong dream and a peaceful world.

Darcy closed her eyes and took a breath.

It wasn’t a hard decision to make.

Five minutes later the only ones to leave Sam’s house alive were Hydra agents.


End file.
